The Law of Motion (Law Series) (62 page)

Mr. Wendell's eyes narrowed at Mr. Maxwell, and then at me, but he slid the ‘petition of paternity’ her way, as well as the paperwork that would give Mr. Maxwell complete control of NI. He slammed his briefcase shut with a deep sigh and stood up, practically stepping on Macon's toes as he loomed near him threateningly. When he spun around, he almost sat back onto the tabletop to get away from him.

I had to bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep my smile and laugh under control. One reason was because I didn't trust this guy any further than Macon could pick him up and throw him—which sounded like a helluva a lot of fun to watch. And the other reason was Alyssa and Kristen looked like they were seeing right through to his mind—and didn't like what they saw.

In fact, Mr. Wendell looked nervous as hell as we allowed him to slowly and carefully pick up his things and walk out of the conference room.

“As far as my paternity goes,” Alyssa sighed continuing, “I will do this test for one reason only. Not out of fear, but in hopes that you will let me carry out Paul’s wishes in peace afterwards.”

Scarlett was the only one to respond, “Just take the test. If it proves positive you won’t hear anything else from us until you run this place into the ground.”

“Scarlett.” Stephanie chastised, but her daughter only flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked out the window.

Alyssa smirked at the other sister as the lab tech came at her with a cotton swab in a test tube. She eyed the guy curiously. “Do you really think that you are going to get your hands in my mouth? Hand it over.”

              She opened the sealed swab and ran it along the inside of her cheek slowly and resealed it handing it to him. When Mrs. Neil was satisfied she stood up from the table along with her daughter’s. “Now if you all will excuse me, I must return to my husband’s side. Mr. Wendell knows where to send the results. Best luck Miss Marshall.”

             
“Mrs. Neil.” She nodded dismissing her. When the Neil family was gone she got to the regular business with Steven Fletcher, Tobias Rawlings, and Roman Maxwell.

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“Are you working or not?” I asked kicking off my shoes and crawling onto the bed next to her to see what she was up to.

             
She shook her head. “No, I’m writing a letter to Victor.”

Of course she missed him, he was in Ft. Leavenworth for her. November had come and gone, and it was nearing Christmas. We were no closer to nailing the leader, so he was no closer to coming home. “Uh, baby. I don’t think that you can send him anything. You can’t leave a trail…”

“I’m using a fake name Adrian.” She snorted and gave me that eye roll that always made me feel like an idiot. “How does the name Evian Manchester sound?”

I rubbed my fingers up and down her stocking covered leg without even thinking as I shrugged. “Absolutely nothing like you.”

“Perfect.” She laughed signing off in her elegant script and kissing the bottom before sealing the three pages in an envelope. “And…done.”

She reached into her briefcase to pull out some proposal my dad wanted her to look over and I immediately kissed her on the temple and snatched it away from her. “No
work
” I demanded kissing her on her lips before she could argue. “ bath is waiting, go relax.”

She moaned at the thought as she rolled her neck cracking her back from a long ass day. “Want to join me?”

It was a tempting invitation, and though I wanted to, I remember the last time that I got in the shower with her. I didn’t know if it was an Alyssa thing or a woman thing, but I almost scalded my skin off from the hot ass water. How she found it relaxing was beyond me, but I learned quickly to let her keep her baths to herself. “I’ll pass baby.”

She pulled herself off of the bed without hesitation, unbuttoning her blouse and pulling the tank over her head as she walked. “You’re a dream.” She called from the bathroom
, the sounds of her sinking into the water accompanied her voice. She came back out an hour or so later, and I just held her talking until we fell asleep, knowing that tomorrow she would have to do it all over again.

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“Good morning, Miss Edmonds, Miss Marshall.” I greeted letting the girls into the security office where all of us were setting up for her conference with the Neil Industries personnel. Not just the board members, but the every piece of management staff on the seventy floors of Neil Tower, not to mention a few from the outside properties.

             
Security was going to have to be tight, because they were about to pack that press hall beyond the limit, and though it wasn’t press, and tabloids, she wasn’t sure what exactly would happen. “Hello everyone, I just came to check the progress for this afternoon.”

             
Ralphie filled her in on the changes to security that Dario and I implemented, and I watched her. She looked different today, though her attire was a similar dress code of a pencil skirt and blouse, her hair wasn’t in a perfect bun, but more of a higher ponytail with bangs that shaped her face. Her emerald colored eyes were behind a pair of black rimmed glasses. The frames rested on her nose as she bit her lip listening to what he had to say, she was completely oblivious to how hard it was for me to even focus, let alone poor Ralphie.

             
“Are we ready for this thing?” Kristen asked leaning against the table with me, still going over her itinerary for the day.

             
I nodded handing her the plan since we didn’t get to do the meeting this morning. “Yeah, first thing we are going to do is put a few people downstairs, then Jackson on the catwalk, Ross outside. Tink and Doc are in the video room getting everything set up. How long is this shit anyway?”

             
“Alyssa wants to do an in and out so no longer than an hour or so. She still has her meeting with the board to address the end of quarter statements.” Kristen informed. “That’s at three.”

             
“Ah hell, is it bad?”

             
Kristen shrugged, “Actually stocks are on the rise, but since she just turned down a deal with Alistair Petroleum that might not last for long.”

             
“Isn’t that the deal Scarlett brought to the table?” I whispered.

             
She nodded conspiratorially. “Uh…huh. She is going to flip, when she finds out. That deal was in the works for months.”

             
Almost as if on cue there was another buzz at the security door. “What can we do for you today Miss Neil?” Frank greeted opening the door.

             
“Ah. I’m sure she’s here for me Frank.” Alyssa smiled at him warmly. “Yes Scarlett, what can I do for you?”

             
“You didn’t sign the deal with Alastair Petrol? Why?” She demanded.

             
Alyssa rolled her eyes, giving her the look that said ‘isn’t it obvious?’ “They were accused of illegally dumping their waste four times within the last five years. Last time I checked that wasn’t maintaining the integrity of Neil Industries.”

             
“They weren’t fined, nor found guilty.” She argued.

             
“That doesn’t mean that they were innocent either. In my experience, no one makes the same false claim more than once.”

             
“This isn’t your PI firm full of Scooby’s, this was a multi-billion dollar deal you just pissed away. Do you know how much time that is going to take to fix?”

             
“There won’t be any fixing. As long as I am CEO there won’t be a deal with Alastair Petroleum.” She started to say something else but Alyssa cut her off. “Scarlett, it was my understanding that once my paternity was no longer an issue
you
weren’t going to be one for me.”

             
Scarlett snapped her mouth shut and took a deep breath, “Alyssa we
need
AP, that would cut our fuel costs by over thirty percent.”

             
“Yes but I am in negotiations with South Cape for an alternative fuel contract. I plan on switching all of the vehicles to accommodate. That will decrease our fuel cost by at least twenty eight percent, not to mention the tax break we would get.

             
“Switching would cost us another ten point six million.” She gasped at Alyssa as if she lost her mind. “And there is no guarantee that South Cape will go for it.”

             
“I like my odds.” Alyssa answered simply which caused Macon and Ross to chuckle. Scarlett started to argue all over again, but Alyssa was too quick. “Jackson, could you come here for a moment please?”

             
Jackson, who had been running cameras with Doc came from the other room. “How can I help you Miss Marshall?” His southern voice drawled.

             
Scarlett’s posture suddenly straitened and Kristen rolled her eyes. “Have you met Scarlett Neil? Scarlett this is Jackson Meadows, one of the men I brought in for security,”

             
“Nice to meet you ma’am,” He greeted with a simple nod before Scarlett extended her hand.

             
Scarlett had started talking about how her dad needed to up the security for a while now, and some other shit I didn’t listen to. Alyssa didn’t either, because with a quick head jerk for Kristen to follow her, she was out the front door leaving Jackson to fend for himself.

             
“Scarlett is going to make him her next meal if Jackson isn’t careful.” Kristen laughed getting up to follow behind her, Scarlett completely oblivious.

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"Who are these jackasses?" Macon huffed as we stood at the side of the stage.

I snorted, looking over at him. "Every supervisor of every department in Neil Tower," I told him with a shrug.

"I suppose bringing everyone in here would shut the whole fucking company down, huh?" he chuckled.

I shrugged again, returning my attention to Alyssa up front, she had just reached the part where she was talking about security, done with the boring shit involving projections.

"I'd like to direct your attention to the gentlemen in black, standing in different parts of the room," she said, pointing towards the back doors, the stage, and the two sides of the auditorium.

Hunter, Danny, Dad, and Jeff had been taken down to Security by Kristen to get their identifications. They'd changed clothes at my father and Alyssa's request, because they wanted to make a statement at this employee meeting. She wanted to let everyone know that they were being protected, as well as being watched.

"This is a new and higher level of security. They're here to help us, considering the events surrounding my appointment to CEO. It's come to my attention that there is information being leaked and there are breeches in security, and we're trying to put an end to it. If you see these gentlemen," she pressed "they are just there to protect you. If you see any suspicious behavior, report it to any one of them." She braced her hands on the podium, looking out over the filled seats. "Ladies and gentlemen, this isn't about long lunch breaks, or the theft of office supplies, because everyone here has taken home a notebook or a pen. It's about being careful who you talk to, who you let in the mail room, who you see driving around in the garage. If they aren't someone you normally see in your department, if they aren't wearing an employee ID badge...
report it.
"

"She's kinda good at this shit," Macon chuckled, still looking around the room.

"She's hating every second," I laughed, looking up at him as he snorted into a harder laugh. "She can't wait to hand this shit back to Paul."

"You wouldn't know it, man."

"No, but she's used to 'playing a part' in her own work, so that's what she's doing," I explained, using my fingers for the air quotes. "She's treating this as any other under cover situation."

"Makes sense."

My gaze landed back on Mr. Wendell as he walked by us, and I glared at him. It wasn't only that I didn't trust him; it was also how he'd treated Alyssa in that conference room as he read the petitions. He'd treated her like she was stupid, and she was far from it. I wanted to teach him about respect.

"He's the leak," I whispered to Macon. "I guaran-fucking-tee it."

Kristen stood on the other side of Alyssa, while Jackson and Dad each took the far ends of the roped off area. I used the fact that my eyes were hidden behind sunglasses to scan the crowd. Frank was just inside the lobby, Ralphie was checking identification before letting visitors and employees into the building, and Darren was walking slowly back and forth behind the cluster of news people.

However, Ross had started to make her round out of position on stage. Ross was across the street. She was planted there just in case someone pulled something stupid. She was the only one of us dressed as a civilian. We'd all agreed that hid her better. While Macon, Jackson, and I all needed to make a statement with our presence, Ross could stay as a hidden pawn. As she paced back and forth on the sidewalk, it merely looked like she was texting someone on her phone as I looked at her through the glass wall.